Past Solo Exhibition
Pae White: Friendship is Magic 08.08.2021 — 05.09.2021
Information
Event has ended
8 August – 5 September 2021
About The Exhibition
An ode to chance occurrences and creative collaborations forged in Singapore.
We are pleased to present a solo exhibition by prolific Los Angeles-based artist Pae White. Having arrived in Singapore for an STPI residency in 2018, the artist allowed herself to be guided by the space, people, food, presented opportunities and Singapore itself. These factors informed the multiple series of works realised through chance and collaboration with the Creative Workshop team. Such encounters and relationships provided her with a profound experience whose effects carry forward till today. It is this connection and closeness that forms the basis of Friendship is Magic.
Taking reference from her large-scale three-dimensional thread installations spelling out words, White’s flocked alphabet and numerical works are an exercise in exploring space in the two-dimensional realm. In an optical illusion-like manner, the dazzling prism effect created by the multicoloured flocking technique suggests a certain volume that seemingly jumps out from the paper. The fibre from the flocking itself creates a real solidity and depth by a microscopic amount—measurable by the millimetre—to complicate the idea of occupying space. And alluding back to the sentiments behind Friendship is Magic, the flocked work UNLOST (2018) speaks to her time spent wandering all around Singapore. Though it being her first time here, there was hardly any sense of being lost but rather of feeling right at home.
The Grayscapes series (2018) similarly examines space. Using threads to create space on a two-dimensional plane, the material was expertly, almost surgically, sewed onto paper with the support of the workshop team. This created the same prismatic effect seen in her flocking words. Put together side by side, the undulating landscapes of floating letters and numbers impart a sense of lyricism, rhythm and movement. At the same time, there is the tension of struggling to come together, both within the canvas and from one Grayscape work to another.
Heavily utilising the embossing technique on bronze, cream and silver papers for her Hearing Things series (2018), the works evoke a feeling of a certain something, perhaps a sound or some small chaos, going on yet being indiscernible, which the artist likens to an “afterimage”. The use of a simple, commercially produced paper stock that uses a mirror metallic coating suggests the elevation of a basic object to something elaborate and extraordinary – and in this case, almost ornamental and jewellery-like in nature.
Her accordion books recall the artist’s own inclinations toward designing and collecting books, as well as her love for stained glass. The paper materials themselves connote the idea of strength and fragility. Inserted into the sturdier frame are untreated mulberry papers (bleached and unbleached) and lettuce papers made largely from lettuce and a binding agent. Through this kind of translucency and malleability in being, the work holds open the space for change and transformation to occur over time. Especially relevant in times of social distancing and a lesser degree of human interaction, Friendship is Magic reminds us of the unexpected yet especially rewarding—and for White, magical—outcomes that can occur when we are given the space to connect and find inspiration from one another.
About the artist
Pae White
Residency in 2017
Pae White (b. 1963, Pasadena, United States, based in Los Angeles, United States) works across sculpture, painting, installation and graphic design to explore the overlooked and ephemeral qualities of everyday life. Using common materials such as yarn, paper, birdseed and glass, her practice blurs the traditional boundaries between fine and applied arts, subverting perceptions of familiar objects, processes and spaces.
Since 2006, White has employed contemporary technology to create large-scale tapestries that monumentalise images of mundane, transient moments such as crumpled foil, smoke plumes and fluttering insects. In other works, her experimentation with thread has expanded to include immersive installations of supergraphic letterforms that criss-cross between walls, such as in Too Much Night, Again (2013). These works create three-dimensional arrangements for viewers to navigate visually and physically. Cascading, hanging mobile pieces are another key aspect of White’s practice. Alluding to forms in the natural world like schools of fish, flocks of birds and drifting clouds, these suspended flurries of colour sway gently mid-air, providing a moment of pause and contemplation within the exhibition space.
White obtained her BA from Scripps College, Claremont in 1985 and her MFA from Art Center College of Design, Pasadena in 1991. Her work is found in major collections including the Art Institute of Chicago; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Kölnisches Stadtmuseum, Köln; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Tate Modern, London; and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
